What does the Church teach about Jesus Christ? Part Four

Let us start with a brief prayer for the victims of yesterday’s tragedy in New York City.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them.  May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

In today’s post, we will continue to look at what the Church teaches about Jesus Christ in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Here again is the Nicene Creed from which the Catechism is basing its teaching on:

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

Now the Creed goes right from the events at the beginning of Jesus' life  to the events at the end of Jesus' earthy life.   However, as we know, a lot happened in between!  However the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery are unique events in the life of Christ in that they shed light on his entire life, and that is why they only are highlighted in the Creed.  We read in #512:

Concerning Christ's life the Creed speaks only about the mysteries of the Incarnation (conception and birth) and Paschal mystery (passion, crucifixion, death, burial, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension). It says nothing explicitly about the mysteries of Jesus' hidden or public life, but the articles of faith concerning his Incarnation and Passover do shed light on the whole of his earthly life. "All that Jesus did and taught, from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven", is to be seen in the light of the mysteries of Christmas and Easter. 

However, all of Christ's life should be reflected on to learn the most about Jesus, and what he can teach us.  We read in #513:  According to circumstances catechesis will make use of all the richness of the mysteries of Jesus.

There are three R’s that the Catechism notes are a common thread to all of Jesus’ life:

1)      Revelation   We read in #516: Christ's whole earthly life - his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings, indeed his manner of being and speaking - is Revelation of the Father. Jesus can say: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father", and the Father can say: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"  Only through Jesus is the true identity of God as Father revealed.  He can be known through natural means as Creator and origin of all things, but not as Father.  That only comes through Revelation.

2)      Redemption We read in #517: Christ's whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above all through the blood of his cross  but this mystery is at work throughout Christ's entire life:

·         - already in his Incarnation through which by becoming poor he enriches us with his poverty;

·         - in his hidden life which by his submission atones for our disobedience;

·         - in his word which purifies its hearers;

·         - in his healings and exorcisms by which "he took our infirmities and bore our diseases";

·         - and in his Resurrection by which he justifies us   Everything in Christ's life has deep meaning and significance for us.  His whole life impacts our identity.  

3)      Recapitulation   We read in #518:  Christ's whole life is a mystery of recapitulation. All Jesus did, said and suffered had for its aim restoring fallen man to his original vocation.  Everything he did was for one purpose, saving us.

Christ’s life relates to us in three distinct ways the Catechism notes:

1)      His life was for us, as we can clearly see in the three R’s above.  We read in #519:  All Christ's riches "are for every individual and are everybody's property." Christ did not live his life for himself but for us.

2)      He is a model for us.  We read in #520: In all of his life Jesus presents himself as our model. He is "the perfect man”, who invites us to become his disciples and follow him. In humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate, through his prayer he draws us to pray, and by his poverty he calls us to accept freely the privation and persecutions that may come our way.

3)      He lives his mysteries in us, and we live them in him.  We read in #521 “By his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man."¹⁹³ We are called only to become one with him, for he enables us as the members of his Body to share in what he lived for us in his flesh as our model.   With Christ, we will share in joy, suffering, and glory, as well as love, abandonment, hunger, thirst, misunderstanding and everything else Christ experienced while on Earth.

So these are characteristics that are common to all of the mysteries of Christ’s life.  Everything in his life: his conception, his birth, his childhood, his Baptism, his preaching, his parables, his miracles, his death, and his resurrection, all share in the elements we discussed above.

In the next post, we will begin to look at the specific distinct mysteries of Christ’s life, and see what they tell us about him, and us.

Joseph, head of the Holy Family, pray for us.

What does the Church teach about Jesus Christ? Part Three

In today’s post, we will continue to examine what is said about Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Nicene Creed.  Today, we will focus on the underlined words below:

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

We stated in the previous post that Our Lord has always existed in the Blessed Trinity, as the Second Person of the Trinity.  We discussed his life in the Trinity as the Son. 

So why did he, at a certain moment in time, take on human flesh and enter time as we know it?   Why did he decide to leave the blessings of eternity and come down into our finite and sinful condition?  

I covered these reasons in a previous post entitled” The Word Became Flesh”.  In that post, I stated these reasons as outlined in the Catechism:

1) The Word became flesh in order to save us by reconciling us with God (p.457).  Before all else, God came to save us for heaven, from hell.
2) The Word became flesh so that we might know God's love (p.458).   God loves us so much He wants us to spend eternity with Him. Jesus reveals this reality.
3) The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness (p.459).  By his teaching and example, Jesus showed us how to become holy.
4) The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of divine nature" (p.460).   Saint Thomas Aquinas says that God became man so that he "might make men gods".

Please read that post in its entirety for more on what all this means for us.  The link is here:

http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-word-became-flesh.html

When Jesus became incarnate, did he stop being God?  No.  

Let’s read what the Catechism says about the person of Jesus as God and man:

479 At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature.

480 Jesus Christ is true God and true man, in the unity of his divine person; for this reason he is the one and only mediator between God and men.

481 Jesus Christ possesses two natures, one divine and the other human, not confused, but united in the one person of God's Son.

482 Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will, which he has in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

483 The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word. 

Jesus is one person, a divine person, with two natures.  He has a human intellect and a will, and a divine intellect and will.  That is why, he could at the same time, “increase in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.”  (Luke 2:52) AND, and have, as the Catechism (#474) states, “in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal.”

Jesus is both God and man.   This is why he is so unique among all the figures in human history, why he is so loved by many, and perhaps why he is often misunderstood.

This mystery of Jesus as God and man is very rich, and can be discussed much more in depth than what we are here.  But it is important for us now to just realize that Jesus is indeed human and divine, in his nature (as opposed to us who are human, but only are divine by adoption, through the grace of the Sacraments).  This has implications for us, and I discuss that, as well as go into a little bit more detail about the divine and human in Jesus in a post I did entitled “True God and true man”.   Here is the link:

http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/true-god-and-true-man.html

So how did Jesus become incarnate?  He did so through the womb of Mary, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth in the town of Galilee, who was betrothed to man named Joseph.   I have spoken about Mary before in various posts, but not from a theological perspective on her as the Mother of God.  She deserves several posts on her in this role, but for our purposes here, here are just a few points that shed light on the mystery of Christ in His Incarnation:

1)      For her to carry the Son of God in her womb, she was preserved from all sin from the moment of her conception, a Catholic belief known as the Immaculate Conception.  Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:   The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.   Mary was saved in advance by the merits of Christ’s Death and Resurrection.    This all again points to the reality that Christ is divine.  If he was not, he could be conceived in any ordinary womb like the rest of us.

2)      Mary is truly the Mother of God.   If Jesus was just God, she could not be a mother.  If Jesus was just a man, she could not be the Mother of God.   Since Jesus is both God and man, she can be truly called this exalted title.

3)      Mary remained a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Christ.   Jesus was conceived not by human seed, but by the Holy Spirit.   (I speak a little bit more about this, and the role of the Spirit in Mary’s early life in this post:  http://jimscatholicblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-holy-spirit-and-mary-part-1.html )    We read in the Catechism how the virginity of Mary demonstrates the divinity of Christ : Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own (#496).  Jesus has only God as Father (#503). Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates the new creation: "The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. (#504).

Now that we have discussed the very beginning of Christ’s life on Earth, the Incarnation, we will, in the next post, begin to discuss the life of Jesus as he: continues to grow in his mother’s womb, is born, grows up, begins his mission, preaches, is crucified, and rises.  All the events of his life are in part a revelation of who Jesus is, and thus, we indeed need to look at his life to get a fuller understanding of the  “boundless riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8)

Joseph, spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.


(The painting below is entitled "Incarnation of the Word".   You may not see Jesus in it, but you can see the Holy Spirit and Mary, and therefore, you know he is there!)

What does the Church teach about Jesus Christ? Part Two

In tonight’s post, we will continue to examine what the Church teaches about Jesus Christ by continuing our look at what is said about him in the Creed:

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

Last night, we discussed the first two lines in which were encompassed the name, “Jesus”, and the titles “Christ”, “Lord”, and “Son of God.”

Tonight, we will discuss the next section which deals with Christ’s position in the Blessed Trinity.

born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.

Trying to explain the Trinity is probably the most difficult thing to do in all of Catholic teaching.   It is a mystery that can never be fully grasped, but we can take some steps towards some degree of understanding.    Considering the topic of this series, Jesus, we will focus in this post on Jesus’ role in the Trinity.

There are some important points in this section of the Creed about Jesus as he is in the Trinity.

1)     Jesus came down from heaven from the Father, but he is still one and eternally of the same substance (consubstantial) as the Father.   Since he is of the same substance, he is God.

2)   Jesus reveals himself as the Son, and therefore, reveals God as Father.   He is the reason God is Father, and therefore, has a special understanding of him.  He says: All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)   Through the Sacraments, we can begin to share in that knowledge and love.

  

3)      Jesus is conceived (begotten) in the mind of the Father, but not as we are conceived.  For there are moments when we were not.   However, there never was a moment Jesus was not.   This is made clear in the prologue to John’s Gospel:"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.”   (John 1:1-2)

4)      Through Jesus, all things came into being.  We read further in the aforementioned Prologue to John’s Gospel:  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. (John 1:3)    The world came into being through the Word of God.  Jesus is tied intimately into the creation of the world, and our creation.

5)      Jesus, because it was through him that the world came to be, is the light of the world.  We read in the Prologue:  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:4-5).    We also hear directly from Our Lord further in John’s Gospel:  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)  Jesus sheds light on the reality of nature and man.

So I think here we can see draw some valuable lessons from these insights:

1)      Jesus was active long before he descended to Earth.   In the same way, he was active for us before we were born!

2)      Because Jesus was the vehicle through whom the world was created, he understands our lives and the world we live in better than anyone.  We can turn to him for answers.

3)      When we study, and seek understanding, ultimately we are seeking Jesus because he is the Wisdom of God.

4)      Jesus has an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of God because he is God, and therefore, if we seek to understand God, we can turn to Him reliably for insight.

5)      Because Jesus is God, and not just a representative of God, or someone close to him, he can be, for us, a perfect advocate, a perfect friend, and above all, a perfect Savior.

It is very good to be intrigued by the life of Jesus as he lived as a man on Earth, and we will look at that later in this series.  However, we must always keep in mind that Jesus has always had, has now, and will for all eternity have, “another life”, the life in the Blessed Trinity as the Second Person, the Son of God.   Let us always be mindful of that, and give Jesus not just the love, but the honor, praise, and worship he deserves, and that will help us get ready to spend eternity in the Blessed Trinity, in the inner life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Joseph, light of patriarchs, pray for us.

What does the Church teach about Jesus Christ? Part One

In this post, we will begin a series on the person of Jesus Christ.  

Why do this series, one may ask?  There are so many books about Jesus.   We hear his name mentioned every Sunday.   Every Christmas and Easter, we see television specials about him. Movies about him come out from time to time.   His name is referenced by people of different faiths and no faith, of different political and social persuasions.   We think we have a rough idea who he is.

But I think I can be of service by trying to bring some simplicity and clarity to the conversation by answering one simple question:  What does the Church teach about Jesus Christ?  

I do not want to go into too much detail into debates and controversies like the ones regarding the "historical" Jesus versus the Jesus of Faith.   Nor do I wish to discuss much at all what in the Gospels is 100% true historically, and what, while true in other, deeper ways, may not be 100% true historically.  I am not here to discuss what he perhaps looked like, or speculate about times in his life that is not recorded in Scripture.  I am here to do one simple thing: say what the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the sure norm and reference point for Catholic teaching in our time, teaches about him.  Then, based on this, one can then go and read books and articles by popular authors, theologians, scholars, and historians, and watch movies and shows about him, to find out more. 

But as one does that, one must remember what is in the Catechism.  One will indeed find stuff in other sources that is not in the Catechism.  If, however, what is said does not go against anything in it, one can believe it.  However, if something does go against something that is in the Catechism, one should not believe those ideas.

Before we begin, I just want to say one more thing.  We will, as I have said,  be covering what the Catechism teaches about Jesus.  There are a few parts to this section in the Catechism, however, that I have done posts on before in this blog.  I may repeat portions of those posts; others relevant portions, however, I will simply, as I have before, post a link to those posts themselves where you can refresh your memory.

I do not know how many posts it will take us to go through what the Catechism teaches about Jesus, but I imagine it will be at least a handful.    We shall see.  I hope you enjoy this series.

The following declaration of faith about Christ begins the Catechism’s teachings on Jesus Christ:

We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man.  (#423)

So, we can see here the Church saying that a person, a man, who lived in human history in a specific time period and in a specific geography is God.  (Remember, the Son of God is God.  God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ) So Jesus is a true man and is truly God. (We say "is" because we believe he is still alive as he rose from the dead: more on that later.)

The Catechism then goes into a brief discussion of Christ as the center of catechesis (transmission of the faith).  I am going to hold off discussing this in detail until after we have discussed Jesus.  We will then discussion how the Church proclaims him.

After this introduction, the Catechism organizes the rest of its teaching on Jesus based on what we say every Sunday about him in the Nicene Creed, which is as follows:

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

Let’s start with the first lines:

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,

Jesus

The Catechism says (#452): The name Jesus means "God saves". The child born of the Virgin Mary is called Jesus, "for he will save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21): "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Christ

The Catechism says (#453): The title "Christ" means "Anointed One" (Messiah). Jesus is the Christ, for "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10:38). He was the one "who is to come" (Lk 7:19), the object of "the hope of Israel" (Acts 28:20).

Son of God

The Catechism says (#454):  The title "Son of God" signifies the unique and eternal relationship of Jesus Christ to God his Father: he is the only Son of the Father (cf. Jn 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18); he is God himself (cf. Jn 1:1). To be a Christian, one must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (cf. Acts 8:37; 1 Jn 2:23).

Lord

The Catechism says (#455):  The title "Lord" indicates divine sovereignty. To confess or invoke Jesus as Lord is to believe in his divinity. "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit'" (1 Cor 12:3).

If one can grasp the meanings of these four names/ titles, then one can grasp the true identity of Jesus Christ.  I am confident we will refer back to these titles as we continue in this series and see examples of him demonstrating what they each refer to. 

We should each ask ourselves a question in relation to each of these names/ titles:

1)      Jesus.  Do I truly believe Jesus saves?  Is he truly my savior?

2)      Christ.  Do I truly believe Jesus is anointed?  What is he anointed for?  As his disciple, do I believe I have an anointing too?

3)      Only Son of God.  Do I truly believe Jesus is God?   What is holding me back from believing this?  Can I make an act of faith that he is?

4)      Lord.   Do I truly believe Jesus is Lord of all creation?  Is he Lord for me personally?

Let us get to know Jesus a little more every day of our lives.

Joseph, diligent protector of Christ, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part Nine

In this post, the final one in our series on the mystery of suffering, we will attempt to address suffering that does not appear to be directly a result of sin, but rather, of nature.

First off, original sin is responsible for weakening all of man’s faculties.   This includes not just his will but his intellect as well.  Therefore, it makes more culpable man’s ability to make good decisions.  For example, let’s say a plane blows up because of faulty mechanical issues.   While we cannot say definitively that sin was the reason the plane blew up and people died, we can say something was lacking in the preparation of the plane, which we can say, is an effect of original sin.   I am not sure if I quoted this specifically before, but regardless, the Catechism (#405) says this about original sin:  is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is called "concupiscence".  You can see here a reference to a weakened intellect.

Part of the ignorance that original sin fosters is ignorance of original sin.  This has consequences for individuals, and for society at large.  We read in #407: Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals.    When we try to make man a supreme being in our social thoughts, or ourselves in our day to day lives, and think he/we are capable of only good, inevitably we are disappointed and we suffer. 

So, at this point, I believe we have covered adequately suffering causes by sin and ignorance.   But there is one more type of suffering that we need to address before closing out this series, and that is, suffering caused by natural causes.  This encompasses both what we would typically term natural disasters, as well as diseases such as cancer.

There are explanations for natural disasters.  Science can explain why things like wildfires and hurricanes occur.   That helps a little bit in our understanding of them.  However, when they touch upon our lives, and even sometimes cause death, we have to ask why do they occur instead of not occurring?  Why could they just not happen?   Why did God create a world where those things occur?   

The answer is God did not create such a world.  In the original account of Creation in Genesis 1, we see God created everything out of nothing, and he looked at everything, and saw that it was “very good”.  However, after the original sin of our first parents, in a mysterious way, sin affected creation as well.   Let us look at a couple of relevant Scripture passages here, as well as a quote from the Catechism.  I will underline especially relevant portions.

And to the man he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
    and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.  Genesis 3:17-18

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;  for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;  and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.   Romans 8:19-23

The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject "to its bondage to decay” Catechism #400

The bottom line is when creation interacts with our wounded human nature, creation is affected.   It is a mystery that we cannot fully understand.  

Our response to this type of suffering has to be the same as it is to suffering that is clearly attributable to human sin.   We must acknowledge that God allows it for a reason.  God allows moral evil to continue for the same reason he allows physical evil to; to draw a greater good out of it.   Out of this type of suffering comes, in the words we used last post, an “unleashing” of love.  (Think about how people respond to one another in natural disasters and you will see this point made manifest.)

Finally, we come to suffering as a result of sickness or illness.  I think really the words we used above apply here.  If all “creation is groaning in labor pains” as a result of sin, then we cannot expect the human body, the pinnacle of God’s material creation, to be exempt from this.   When sin enters the world, all creation, including the physical body, is affected. 

This type of suffering can unleash love, as well, in the loved ones and families who care for the sick, as well as the doctors and nurses.   It also, in a very special way, can be redemptive, and the person undergoing it can suffer with Christ, and make his or her suffering part of the story of the redemption of the human race.

With this, we conclude our reflection on the mystery of suffering.   I would like to conclude this series with the same words Saint John Paul II used to close his apostolic letter on suffering, from which we have quoted in this series.    In this quote, John Paul II addresses Christians, all people of good will, and everyone in the world who is suffering. 

And so there should come together in spirit beneath the Cross on Calvary all suffering people who believe in Christ, and particularly those who suffer because of their faith in him who is the Crucified and Risen One, so that the offering of their sufferings may hasten the fulfilment of the prayer of the Saviour himself that all may be one.   Let there also gather beneath the Cross all people of good will, for on this Cross is the "Redeemer of man", the Man of Sorrows, who has taken upon himself the physical and moral sufferings of the people of all times, so that in love they may find the salvific meaning of their sorrow and valid answers to all of their questions.

Together with Mary, Mother of Christ, who stood beneath the Cross, we pause beside all the crosses of contemporary man.

We invoke all the Saints, who down the centuries in a special way shared in the suffering of Christ. We ask them to support us.

And we ask all you who suffer to support us. We ask precisely you who are weak to become a source of strength for the Church and humanity. In the terrible battle between the forces of good and evil, revealed to our eyes by our modern world, may your suffering in union with the Cross of Christ be victorious!

I join the Holy Father in prayer and encouragement for all of you who are suffering, that you may be inspired to still love in spite of it, and help redeem the world, and that you also receive love from others in your trials.   May the mystery of suffering not solely be a burden, but also a discovery of the real power of love and redemption.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part Eight

In this next to last post in this series on suffering, we will take a look at what it means to help those who are suffering.

Saint John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris, references the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Here is the parable in its entirety:

 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.   He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’  Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:29-37)

John Paul II has this to say regarding this parable: 

For it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be towards our suffering neighbour. We are not allowed to "pass by on the other side" indifferently; we must "stop" beside him. Everyone who stops beside the suffering of another person, whatever form it may take, is a Good Samaritan. This stopping does not mean curiosity but availability. It is like the opening of a certain interior disposition of the heart, which also has an emotional expression of its own. The name "Good Samaritan" fits every individual who is sensitive to the sufferings of others, who "is moved" by the misfortune of another.

Nevertheless, the Good Samaritan of Christ's parable does not stop at sympathy and compassion alone. They become for him an incentive to actions aimed at bringing help to the injured man. In a word, then, a Good Samaritan is one who brings help in suffering, whatever its nature may be. Help which is, as far as possible, effective. He puts his whole heart into it, nor does he spare material means. We can say that he gives himself, his very "I", opening this "I" to the other person. Here we touch upon one of the key-points of all Christian anthropology. Man cannot "fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself" . A Good Samaritan is the person capable of exactly such a gift of self.

Just as Christ made the supreme gift of self, down to his last drop of blood, for us, so we too, in imitation of, and in union with him, through the Holy Spirit, are called to likewise make gifts of ourselves.  Helping those in suffering is one way.  Suffering, in the words of the Holy Father, “unleashes love”.

We have mentioned earlier that in Christ, all human suffering can be redemptive.   So we can say truthfully that Christ has united himself with every human suffering.  This is why it is true what Christ says in the remarkable statements below that I have underlined below in Our Lord’s description of the Final Judgement:

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.  Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for  I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?  And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’  And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,   was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’  Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’  Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  (Matthew 25: 31-46)

We cannot ignore those in suffering.   It is a mandate from God, as told in the aforementioned Parable of the Good Samaritan, and description of the Final Judgement.  If we ignore those in suffering, we ignore Christ.   Ignoring Christ is a very bad thing that can have dire, eternal consequences.  If we ignore suffering, we will likely endure horrific suffering for all eternity (see Part 6 of this series for a description of this suffering.)

Beyond being a mandate for our eternal salvation, however, we need to remember helping those in suffering makes us better people.  In giving of ourselves, we receive more.   In emptying of ourselves, we allow room for God and neighbor.   We said before that suffering “unleashes love”.   In a way, it also can unleash the best version of ourselves, to allow us to be all we can be.

John Paul II sums up Christ’s teaching on suffering as having two aspects.  First, Christ teaches us to do good by his suffering.  This we discussed in detail in Part 5 of this series when we discussed us making up what is “lacking” in the sufferings of Christ.   Secondly, he teaches us to do good to those who suffer, what we have discussed here.   In these two things, you have the answer to the mystery of suffering, and hopefully an inkling as to why God allows it.  

 

So, before we end this series (which we will in our next post), let us briefly recap where we have been so far in this series:

1)      We saw that our suffering is a result of sin.

2)      We saw that specifically, it is the effect of original sin.

3)      We saw the devil also has a role in fostering our suffering.

4)      We saw that Christ suffered when he became one of us out of love for us, and that because of him, suffering has meaning and does not have the last word.  

5)      We saw that we can make our suffering part of his in the work of redemption.

6)      We saw that the suffering in hell, unlike our current suffering, has no hope or end, and is much worse than any suffering here.

7)      We saw that Mary, the mother of Jesus, suffered and can be a model and intercessor for us in our suffering.

8)      We saw that we have a role to play to help those in suffering, and it benefits us, as well.

As I stated earlier, I think we can begin to see now perhaps why God allows suffering.  I hope you can see that there is enough reason and evidence that there is a Divine Plan in all this that works for the good of everyone who suffers, and everyone who helps those who suffer.   (I would imagine for most of us, we would fall in both categories.)

 In the past post in this series, I am going to try to address an issue that perhaps remains unanswered in our minds:

If suffering is a result of sin, that can explain suffering as a result of people doing bad things.  However, how does that explain “natural” suffering like diseases that weaken or even kill us, or natural disasters?    Does sin cause that? 

We will take a look at that next time.

Joseph, mirror of patience, pray for us.

The mystery of suffering, Part Seven

By now, you may be tired of reading about suffering, and I am getting to that point, as well, of talking about it.  But there are a just a few more things I would like to discuss on this topic, so please bear with me, we are getting there.

Tonight, I would like to briefly discuss the sorrows of the Blessed Mother.  Her sufferings, compared to those of her son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, are not as well known.   They are more silent, more hidden.  Mary keeps things in her heart, including her suffering.   But while they may be hidden to the world, certainly they are known to Our Lord, and he has rewarded her for going through them.

In the tradition of Catholic devotion, there are seven sorrows of Our Lady.   Here they are:

1)      The Prophecy of Simeon When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the Temple, a holy man there predicted suffering for Jesus.   This had to wound Mary.   And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.  Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  (Luke 2:33-35)

2)      The Flight Into Egypt    Mary and Joseph has to “run for their lives” soon after Jesus’ birth.  Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”  Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”  (Matthew 2: 13-15)

3)      The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple  Imagine the pain of not knowing where your child is.   Some of you know this pain.  Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.  And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.  When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it.  Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.  When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.  After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.  When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”  He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”^[  But they did not understand what he said to them.  Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.  (Luke 2:41-51)

4)      Mary meets Jesus carrying his Cross    This event is not recorded in Scripture, but has been a part of the Traditional Catholic devotion known as the Stations of the Cross.  It has also been revealed as an actual event to a few mystics.   It is not required for Catholics to believe this event took place, but believing in it is in no way contrary to anything in Scripture or Tradition.  One of the mystics who saw this event, a 19^th century religious sister, Anne Catherine Emmerich, reveals it this way:   Mary was perfectly agonized at this sight; she forgot all else; she saw neither soldiers nor executioners; she saw nothing but her dearly-loved Son; and, springing from the doorway into the midst of the group who were insulting and abusing him, she threw herself on her knees by his side and embraced him…  What agony!

5)      The Crucifixion   Mary watched her son die on the Cross.   Those of you who have lost children know how this feels like.   I cannot imagine myself.   Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”  Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.   The agony continues!

6)      Mary receives the body of Jesus from the Cross    This event is not recorded in Scripture.  However, like the event above not in Scripture, it is in the Stations of the Cross, and has been revealed privately to mystics.   Here is how she told of this scene to one 14^th century mystic, Saint Bridget of Sweden:  While the others left the scene, I did not want to go away. Later my Son was taken down from the Cross…. we carried Him to a stone which I had covered with clean linens. All my Son’s limbs had become stiff and cold in death, and the blood which had flowed over them during His Passion adhered to them. But I was indeed consoled that I could touch His body and take him onto my lap, examine His wounds and dry up the blood…. Then they laid Him out on some clean linen, and with my cloth, I washed His wounds and His limbs. And with my fingers I closed His eyes and His mouth, which were open when he died.”   Tragic.

7)      The body of Jesus is placed in the tomb.  Scripture does not explicitly record her presence there, but it is hard to imagine she would not have been.   Again, Saint Bridget reveals she was told by Mary:  It would be impossible for anyone to describe how sad I was then…Oh, how gladly would I have allowed them to entomb me alive with my Son, if it had been His will!  I can truly say that when my Son was entombed, there were two hearts in one sepulcher.  Is there not the saying; where your treasure is, there is also your heart?   Therefore, my thoughts and my heart were always in the tomb of my Son.”

Devotion to Our Lady only strengthens our devotion to Christ.   This devotion includes being able to share in her suffering, and endure our own suffering with her maternal help.   Truly, she understands our suffering, and now, as Queen of Heaven, she can intercede, and mediate all the graces from heaven that are there to help us endure, and even sanctify our suffering so it bears fruit.

Our Lady of Sorrows is there for us in our suffering as a model, someone who understands, and also as an intercessor.   May we turn to her and may she direct the graces from God to help us in our suffering in this “valley of tears.”

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Joseph, spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.